ald and Frans Nielsen scored first-period goals and Al Montoya made them stand up as the New York Islanders notched their first victory by holding off the visiting Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Monday afternoon.

Montoya, a surprise starter for the second time in as many games, had 20 saves, including 18 in the final two periods, to leave both teams with 1-1-0 records.

Matt Cullen score the only goal for the Wild, beating Montoya with a snap shot just 73 seconds into the final period to cut the deficit in half.

Montoya kept Minnesota off the scoreboard the rest of the way despite his teammates collecting only five shots over the final two periods.

MacDonald got the Islanders on the scoreboard with a power-play tally at the 9:05 mark of the first, beating Niklas Backstrom with a slap shot after Cullen had fanned on a clearing attempt.

New York, which was listless in a 2-0 season-opening loss to Florida on Saturday, doubled the lead just over 2 1/2 minutes later when Nielsen redirected a shot by defenseman Mark Streit past Backstrom, who made only 12 saves.